


Keep Going

by TheGrinningKitten



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 05:17:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8274257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGrinningKitten/pseuds/TheGrinningKitten
Summary: Sans drops by the Labs, which turns into a conversation neither he, nor Alphys want to have.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Features a personal interpretation of Underfell AU, which may be different from what's commonly expected.

"The f-fuck do you want this t-time?"

Trust Alphys to be eloquent. Though the even sharper than usual tone might have had something to do with how Sans popped up in the Lab unannounced. Just when she was having her lunch too, apparently.

"Good day to you too," the skeleton snorted. His usual grin just got wider when the lizard gave an indignant screech — it sounded silly when Paps did it, but Alphys's version was downright hilarious.

"There's p-positively nothing p-positive about today!" The scientist curled her lip.

"Not with that attitude."

"Now, listen here, smartass!" The characteristic stutter was gone; Alphys was truly pissed now. Sans blocked out the rest of her hateful rant, watching absentmindedly how she punctuated her speech by poking chopsticks in his general direction. A single noodle stuck to them and was dangling back and forth with every motion. One especially sharp jerk had the noodle taking off to land on the floor with a soft 'splat'. That was ridiculous enough to make the lizard shut up.

"Anyone told you you suck at aiming?" Sans said.

And just like that Alphys was back to 'pissed off' mark. She flung her chopsticks at the skeleton — those went so far off mark he didn't even have to move an inch.

"Aaand that just proves my point."

The cup of noodles went flying next. Here Sans had to sidestep to make sure the resulting puddle won't splash on his sneakers.

"Ditto."

Alphys didn't stop there, now groping at her desk in search of _something_ , and there was a real possibility of it being a new — and untested — weapon. Sans didn't wait to see what she'd find.

"So how are the guys downstairs? Need more chow?"

That extinguished the scientist's anger, and she was back to her nervous, closed-off self in a matter of seconds. Sans was almost sorry he said anything. Almost.

Silence settled for a long minute, until Alphys found her voice, "What d-do you want?"

"Anything you have on Underground's demographics for the past... whatever's available."

"...What?" That definitely wasn't a request Alphys expected, and it was easy to imagine her wide-eyed and blinking owlishly behind those glasses of hers.

"Population, birth rate, death rate, decline rate. You know, that kinda thing. Age ratio too, if you have that."

"Why d-did you— Why do I-I ha—," Alphys sputtered, trying to figure out, how to put all her confusion into just one sentence. "Why w-would you th-think I'd have that?"

Sans just raised a brow-ridge and stared — hopefully — right into her eyes. Ten seconds into the staring game — and Alphys was already scratching at her chair's armrest in agitation, adding more claw marks to the ones already there. Then...

"Agrh! Alright, alright!" She threw her hands up in defeat and swiveled in her chair to face the computer screen. For a little while the quiet was only disturbed by claws tapping on the keyboard.

"Also," Sans waited for Alphys to slow down before continuing, "King Asshole's gonna be coming this week or the next to check up on things." 'I'll tell you when I know the exact day' was left unspoken. She knew that, and Sans knew that she knew.

She went back to work without a word, but the atmosphere between the two of them was just a bit more amiable. Like it usually was.

"I've g-got only four years here," Alphys leaned closer to screen, "and there's, like, fifty five — no, no — sixty years worth of data from twenty years back... I think."

"Eh, should be enough," Sans shrugged, even though she couldn't see it. "Just interpolate the rest."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, asshole," the lizard grumbled. He stayed quiet, letting her work in peace, and occupied himself with looking over the various things she had piled on the desk and around it. Folders, empty noodle cups, papers scraps, post-it notes...

"What would you— Why d'you need all this shit anyway?" Alphys asked, distracting him from his snooping.

"Hm, Paps is set on banning... uh... 'extreme violence against children'. Some shit like that," he stared at her back, expecting her to catch on to his line of though. It didn't take long.

"And, of c-course, you want me to d-drag Undyne into it," Alphys growled. She was still diligently building up graphs on her computer though.

"You could," Sans hummed, faking contemplation, "or Paps will. Just a matter of time and effort, y'know."

"Yeah, sure, _fine_ ," she gave up almost instantly but shook her head, feigning annoyance, nonetheless.

"Great."

"Wow, you sure sound enthusiastic."

"Why wouldn't I—?"

"Oh, cut the crap, Sans!" she turned around sharply, and the skeleton fought down the urge to flinch. Alphys was only straightforward when pissed, and he had no idea what set her off. "You can stop pretending you like this shit."

"Heh, really?" Sans forced his usual grin wider. "I wasn't even trying there."

"W-what?" The answer surprised her enough to make her back off. "B-but— But isn't it gonna do— I mean, isn't it gonna m-make things—?"

"What? Better?" he gave a sharp, not the least bit humorous laugh. "C'mon, Al, you're no idiot. You know it's just gonna prolong things."

Alphys moved her lips, but no words came. She rubbed her wrists nervously, not noticing the new additions to the old scars she kept creating. Sans tried hard not to notice too.

"Look... You've finished the graphs, right?" he said louder than needed, effectively snapping her out of it. "Just extrapolate the population, like, twenty years forward." She made no move to do so. "Al?"

Reluctantly, she turned back to the computer to continue the graph.

Once she was done, Sans leaned forward, tapping the screen, "Here. Sixteen years into the future we're hitting one hundred. That's the point of no return." He moved away, hiding his hand in the pocket. "After that, the Underground will collapse. New laws would just slow that down by a couple of years — maybe five, if everything goes smoothly."

"B-but we only need one s-soul, we just need a little time to—"

"And then what? We start a war we have no chance of winning?"

"Y-you don't know that!"

"Al, do you even listen to the shit you're saying? We had equal forces in the war, and we lost. Now it's thousands against billions. What chance do we fucking have?"

"Sans—!"

"It doesn't matter, Al! It doesn't fucking matter! We're dead either way. We stay Underground — we die. We get out — we die. Nothing we do will make any. Fucking. Difference."

"Then why the fuck d-do you even keep going?" Alphys shot back, voice wavering in pitch and volume.

They fell silent for the moment, staring each other down but neither daring to speak up.

Until Sans reached behind himself to pull out a framed photograph. "Why do you?" Undyne grinned back from the picture, tired and covered in mud but undoubtedly happy to see whoever it was behind the lens.

The lizard shook. "Where d-did you— How did you— Were y-you snooping— Argh! G-give it back!"

Sans shoved the prized possession back into her arms before Alphys could start clawing at him to get it. She clutched the photo to her chest, like it was the most precious thing she had. Mouth set into a hard line, she took a few steps back. The tip of her tail twitched, betraying her agitation, and she flinched, when it hit her desk chair. That, however, was enough to remind her what she was doing before the distraction. She turned away from Sans long enough to press a couple of buttons.

Now it was his turn to flinch. The printer, loud even under better circumstances, was deafening in the heavy silence. The ancient machine coughed and sputtered, spitting out pages at a snail's pace, as the two monsters returned to staring each other down.

It took a small eternity for the beep, signifying a finished task, to come.

"T-take those and g-g-g— and g-et out," Alphys's order sounded less confident than either of them wanted it to be.

"Al—?"

"Out!"

Sans hesitated for just a moment before grabbing the stack of papers from the printer. When he turned back, Alphys was facing away from him, and if he looked closely, he could see her shoulders shaking just the tiniest bit.

"...I'll bring something for your patients when I can." With that, he took a step back, disappearing from the Lab.

***

"Hey, Fishface," Sans greeted over the phone, ignoring the string of curses he got in reply. "Might be some shit stirring up in Hotland, sector R1. You're welcome." He hung up without waiting for Undyne to answer.

The gang in question wasn't that much trouble — yet — and he'd probably get chewed out for alerting her too soon, but — hey!— sometimes all you needed was an excuse. And he was good at those.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I post on this site, so posting-related advice is welcome.


End file.
